Trailer hitch assemblies are well known in the art. Such assemblies are used with towing vehicles, such as cars and trucks, to allow them to pull towed vehicles, such as boat trailers, pop-up campers and the like, behind them. In one very common assembly, the towing vehicle is fitted with a hitch assembly having a tow hitch, which is a square-shaped hollow receiver tube mounted to the chassis of a towing vehicle at the rear of the vehicle. A portion of a ball mount is then inserted into the hollow of the receiver tube with the remaining portion of the ball mount extending rearwardly of the towing vehicle. That is, the ball mount includes a bar that fits into the receiver that is attached to the vehicle and is secured to the receiver, typically by pinning it. The ball mount includes a hitch ball that is attached to it and the bar of the ball mount may drop down to get the ball closer to the ground so that the towed vehicle, or trailer, will ride more or less level.
The towed vehicle, or trailer, is then fitted with a device that is used to secure the trailer to the towing vehicle. This is known as the trailer “tongue” or trailer “coupler” which captures the hitch ball and secures the towed vehicle to the towing vehicle. This forms an effective “ball and socket” connection to allow for relative movement between the towing vehicle and the towed vehicle, or trailer, while towing over a road surface.
In the hitch assembly described above, the hitch ball is typically removably attached to the ball mount. In this type of assembly, the hitch ball includes an integrally-formed ball that extends above the ball mount, a flange of some sort disposed immediately below the ball, a shank that extends through an aperture defined within the ball mount, and a threaded shank portion that extends below the ball mount. The threaded shank portion is used to secure the hitch ball to the ball mount by means of a like-threaded fastener, such as a hex nut.
Certain configurations have been devised to allow for the alignment of the coupler with the hitch ball prior to the coupler actually being attached to the hitch ball. That is, as the towing vehicle backs towards the somewhat stationary trailer, the driver may be able to accurately align the coupler with the hitch ball if a spotter assists the driver. Where the driver is not assisted, the blind spot behind the vehicle makes accurate alignment virtually impossible. The best that the driver can do is get the hitch ball as close as possible to the coupler and then manually rotate the coupler-end of the trailer into position. Some prior art devices have been described for assisting the driver with this type of maneuver. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,630 to Thompson et al. discloses and claims a hitching assembly having a base plate portion and a hitching portion with guide plates, the hitching portion being insertable by means of a tongue portion that fits into a slotted mounting socket. A similar device is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,510 to Hammons.
Similarly, once the coupler has been secured to the hitch ball, certain devices are used to prevent accidental or intentional trailer detachment, such as by theft. For example, the typical coupler incorporates a locking mechanism that can be augmented by use of a separate locking device. Other devices have been described for placing the separate locking device on the hitch ball mount. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,523 to Profitt discloses and claims a safety fastener having a base that fits over the beam of a hitch ball mount. The base carries a collar for a vertical fastener arm. Another device is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,376 to Profitt.
The prior art references are not disclosed or claimed to be interchangeable or even usable with a single base member. To the contrary, each requires a specifically-configured base member.